Carrier weapon systems are those which employ a carrier unit containing one or more munitions to deliver those munitions to a point where they are separately deployed by ejection from the carrier housing.
Various mechanisms have been devised to release and eject munitions from carrier weapon systems. Such mechanisms require two basic features to carry out that task. First, the munitions are engaged to the carrier housing and remain so until they are to be deployed. Thus, it is necessary to disengage the munitions from the housing when the time of deployment arrives. Second, the munitions must be ejected from the housing.
Until now, these devices have employed separate sources of energy to effect the disengagement and ejection. The use of two separate systems to perform the two operations adds to the failure rate of such carrier weapons, and compromises their reliability.
In addition, prior devices have not coordinated the events of disengagement and ejection to minimize the shock and acceleration loads imparted to the munition. This has become an increasingly important consideration in light of the sensitivity of modern munitions to shock and acceleration. Among the damages which may be caused by insufficient protection from these dangers is a degradation of the ability of the munition's target sensors to perform accurately.
It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a method and system for release and ejection of munitions from a carrier weapon housing, characterized by the minimum possible shock and acceleration loads on the munition upon release and ejection.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such a munition release system wherein the disengagement and ejection of the munition from the housing are effected by the same source of energy, to achieve reliability of operation.
A third object of the invention is to provide proper timing between disengagement and ejection functions.